Many credit cards offer travel protection benefits, but you should read over their terms carefully to make sure you have adequate coverage for your personal travel patterns and preferences. Compare options like Generali Global Assistance separately as well.
Travel protection benefits may include trip cancellation/interruption coverage, lost luggage reimbursement and emergency evacuation transportation services. Limits vary; more comprehensive cards may provide medical coverage that supplements existing health policies.
Coverage for pre-existing conditions
Have preexisting medical conditions shouldn’t stop you from traveling abroad – in fact, many comprehensive travel insurance plans provide waivers so that any associated expenses can be reimbursed by them.
Definitions of pre-existing conditions vary between travel insurance providers, but in general they include any illness, injury or medical issue that was diagnosed within a specific timeframe (known as “look back period”) prior to purchasing your plan. Therefore it’s essential that you review any health history forms, doctor’s opinions or lab tests to ascertain if particular conditions will be covered under your plan.
Some comprehensive travel insurance plans, like Visitors Protect from International Medical Groups, provide coverage for preexisting conditions that have been determined stable by an insurer and trips interrupted or canceled due to sudden illness of non-traveling family members; the plan certificate provides full details.
Coverage for COVID
Many travel insurance providers have recently updated their policies to include coronavirus coverage as either a medical or trip protection benefit, such as AIG Travel Guard, Seven Corners, HTH World Nomads and IMG to name just a few that provide this type of coverage in their policies.
Most travel insurance policies cover trip cancellation and interruption due to COVID-19 related reasons such as being ordered by a doctor to quarantine, or when the Centers for Disease Control issues travel warnings that affect your destination country. HTH offers its Xplorer Plan which covers travel delays, rerouting, and rebooking due to CDC travel bans.
Some travel insurance policies provide an upgrade known as Cancel for Any Reason that would reimburse costs associated with canceling due to COVID-19 outbreak, although this option may be subject to specific terms and conditions of your policy. Carefully read over any such offers to decide if this is something you want to purchase.
Coverage for trip cancellation or interruption
Credit card travel protection benefits typically offer more comprehensive policies than standalone policies can, such as trip cancellation/interruption coverage and lost luggage reimbursement. Depending on the card you use, these features could include trip cancellation/interruption coverage as well as lost luggage reimbursement.
Unexpected circumstances such as illness, inclement weather or family emergencies may interfere with your travel plans. Trip cancellation or interruption insurance provides reimbursement of nonrefundable trip expenses like flights, hotels and prepaid activities that you incur as a result. Policies vary between providers and may even have limits as to when coverage starts applying to you during a given trip.
Some cards offer travel accident and emergency evacuation coverage that covers costs related to transporting you to an appropriate medical facility for treatment of any injuries sustained on an extended trip. Although less common than other coverages mentioned above, this feature can be extremely valuable if utilized effectively. In order to take advantage of it, all expenses related to your trip must be charged using your credit card before filing claims promptly upon returning home.
Coverage for emergency medical transportation
Credit card travel health insurance offers coverage for emergency medical transportation (medevac) when traveling abroad, in addition to offering travel accident and trip cancellation/interruption benefits.
The Chase Xplorer Card provides this benefit as part of its rewards program, with two points awarded per dollar spent on travel and dining purchases and 1.5 on all other purchases. Furthermore, it covers lost luggage coverage as well as primary car rental damage/accident coverage.
Travelers should carefully assess whether their domestic health insurance covers them when traveling internationally, and those without this coverage should purchase short-term travel health and medical evacuation insurance policies that may be relatively cost effective. Before leaving home, travelers should review itineraries and potential health risks that they might encounter at their destination and then purchase additional travel health and medical evacuation coverage to fill any gaps in coverage.
